


To dance in the Rain

by Lakritzwolf



Category: The Almighty Johnsons
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/M, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-25
Updated: 2015-08-25
Packaged: 2018-04-17 06:30:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,085
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4656180
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lakritzwolf/pseuds/Lakritzwolf
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p><b>Life isn't about waiting for the storm to pass... It's about learning to dance in the rain.</b><br/>-Vivian Greene</p><hr/><p>What if Gaia had been accepting instead of denying what was happening to her?</p><hr/>
            </blockquote>





	To dance in the Rain

Here they stand, looking at each other. She clings to her bottle, taking a sip of beer after they have mutually declared they are repulsive to each other. 

But there is something at the back of her mind telling her it’s futile. Telling her that what she says she feels is the opposite of what she actually feels. 

God knows Anders is a sexist asshole and a selfish prick. God also knows he is achingly handsome, and she feels the pull towards him, far more than physical attraction, deep in her bones, but also deep in her soul. His eyes meet hers, blue looking into brown, and they both know that their fate is sealed. 

Gaia tries to cling to despising him. But her feelings crumble in her hands like made from drying sand, sifting through her fingers and vanishing into an empty void of longing and despair. She would have liked to think it was only her body being controlled by something, someone, an outer force creating a sexual tension that was driving her mad.  
That was certainly the case. But there was something else, too. 

She sees the pain in his eyes, a flash only, gone after a second, and she knows exactly what he feels right now. He is as lost as she is. He knows this can’t and won’t end well. He knows he is in deep shit. And Gaia knows that he will get the brunt of it all. It already begins, as Mike tells him to fuck off, his voice cold and angry, leaving Anders no chance to explain himself.

She feels sorry for him at that moment, she knows what will happen, and she can feel Axl tense beside her, ready to break his brother’s neck. As if anything had been his fault. 

And she feels something else, too. The man she had promised herself to, the man whose ring she had accepted despite them both knowing that fate had fucked them over, he was standing beside her and she suddenly couldn’t stand the thought of him touching her anymore. It is beginning; no, it began the moment Idun took her as a vessel, the moment she knelt in front of Anders telling him she had returned to him. And since then, the force that had driven her to do that, despite her mortification at her own actions, had somehow blended with her soul. 

She is no longer Gaia, trying to fight the presence of another force, the thing inside that had made her kneel. She is Gaia, vessel of Idun, and she feels her soul and the essence of the goddess becoming one. She has stopped fighting it, and it has slid into place so soft and gentle that she hadn’t realised it was happening, she only realises it now, as the transformation is complete. She no longer feels like two entities inhabiting her body. She is Gaia, and she is Idun. She is both, and both are a part of her now. 

She looks up at Axl. Then she looks past him at Anders who has now reached the door.

Gaia slowly gets down from the bar stool. “Anders, wait.”  
Anders freezes, his shoulders hunched, and slowly, very hesitantly, turns around.

“Gaia, what the fuck?” Axls voice is trembling.  
Gaia looks up at him, and in his eyes, she can see that he knows. He denies it, just as she denied it until moments before. Before she can say something, however, Mike barks at Anders again. “I told you to fuck off!”  
“No.” Gaia’s voice sounded strange to her own ears, full of strength, full of confidence, and she stares Mike down with a single glance. “You know that nothing can stop this. Not Axl, not you. Neither your hate nor Axl’s pleading will change it. It is done.” Then she faces Anders who stands frozen in the doorframe. “Come back, Anders. This has to end now.”

Anders does so, but only very reluctantly, casting wary, nervous glances at his brothers, especially Mike and Axl. Mike looks furiously back, and Axl looks as if he is about to murder him. 

Gaia looked around, meeting every single pair of eyes. There is one, however, that look back without hostility, just a little sadness. 

“We all know how the gods fuck with our lives sometimes,” Ty says. “When I met Hel, there was nothing I could do against the pull towards her. You all know I ditched Dawn, the love of my life, because I had to be with Eva. It broke her heart, and it broke mine, you all fucking know that. But could I do anything about it? Fuck no, I couldn’t. Why would it be any different for Anders? When god spouses meet, mortals stand no fucking chance.”  
“Come one, Ty.” Mike says, but he hesitates.  
“Mike.” Gaia turns to face him. “You know your brother is right.”  
“You didn’t even try to fight it!” Mike said, ignoring her.  
“Damn right I didn’t!” Ty crosses his arms. “Because I knew there was no fighting it! I stood as much a chance against it as a paper dog chasing an asbestos cat through hell! And you are fucking sick in your head when you think Anders is supposed to stand against something as this! It’s impossible!”

After a moment of silence, Gaia faces Axl again. She hurts, but already the thought of being without Bragi, without Anders, of all people, hurts her more. She pulls the ring of her finger and holds it out to him. He looks back with a stony face, refusing to take it, and with a sigh, Gaia puts it down on the counter. 

“Stop that,” Mike says, but with much less bravado.  
“I can’t,” Gaia replies, meeting his eyes, and shrugs.

Then she turns to face Anders again. He looks as if he wants the ground to open up and swallow him. 

“I don’t want this,” he says in a hoarse voice. “I don’t fucking want this.”  
“Neither do I.” Gaia takes a step towards him. “But there’s sweet fuck all we can do about it. You can feel it. I feel it to. This is it. This is our life now. We’re in this together, and we have to make the best of it.”  
“Somebody shoot me, please,” Anders whispers and closes his eyes.

“Can’t shoot you, you bastard,” Axl says and walks forcefully towards him. “But I can break your neck, you sorry dickhead!”  
“Axl, no!”

Axl’s fist hits Anders squarely in the ribs and the cracking sound makes everyone wince. The force knocks Anders back and he hits the floor with another crack as his head hits the wooden floorboards. There is no sound coming from him, and he lies very, very still.

“Anders...” Gaia is at his side in an instant, and as she kneels beside him, she realises she is kneeling in a pool of blood. The force of the impact has cracked his head open, and he is bleeding his life out. “Anders!”

Axl stares at his brother in shock, he stares at the blood, and he knows that he has succeeded in killing his own brother. Mike calls for Michelle, a sudden surge of worry, almost panic in his voice. 

Gaia gathers his body up into her arms, being instantly drenched in blood. There is a laceration at the back of his head the size of her hand and the flow of blood is already slowing down.  
“Anders, no...” 

His eyes are closed. His breathing is shallow and slowing down. And Gaia feels something tear inside her, a pain so vicious and real that it breaks out of her in a high pitched keen of despair. Idun needs Bragi, and Gaia needs Anders, and both are about to slip away. 

Michelle finally kneels down on Anders’s other side, and as her hands glow, as she heals the wound, Gaia realises she comes too late. A light of unearthly colours begins to rise out of Anders’s body. 

“Shit,” Michelle mutters and closes her hands around the staff again. This time she touches his chest, starts his heart with a touch of her golden light, but the essence of Bragi is about to slip away. But it is slow, hesitant, as if he tries to cling to his body with all his strength. Bragi’s essence refuses to ascend.  
Gaia reaches out and her hand touches the light and as she does so, it slowly lowers down back towards Anders’s body.

“Let him fucking go, Gaia!” Axl’s voice is begging her imploringly. “You’re free!”  
She is not free, will never be. She is Idun, and she needs Bragi, and she cannot let him go. “His loss will kill me. If he dies like this, I will follow him.  
“Bullshit! Ty didn’t die when Eva died!”  
“Hodr and Hel are god and goddess of darkness and death. Bragi and Idun are laughter and life.”

“Gaia don’t... come on, Anders lives, let Bragi go and forget about Anders...”  
Gaia’s head spins around, and her eyes are a vivid green. Her voice when she speaks is vibrant with energy. It sounds like wind rustling in leaves. Like the murmur of a stream. It feels like rays of sunshine, and it smells of apples ripening in the warm sun of late summer. “ **I will not abandon him.** ”

And with a simple gesture of her hand, she guides the essence back into the body of the man in her arms, the man who stares up at her with eyes wide in shock, head shaking in denial, lips moving soundlessly. 

Michelle steps back from the two, chest heaving in heavy breaths. Everyone has taken a step back as the goddess manifested in Gaia and her powers still pour off the woman who is her vessel now. 

Then Gaia’s eyes lose their light, turn back to brown. She looks down at Anders’s face, and as their eyes meet, they do so in acceptance and understanding. This is the way it has to be. There is no choice. 

Anders slowly struggles onto his feet again. He looks at Axl, eyes sad and lips tight.

“I’m sorry, bro. I don’t want to do this.”  
“Then don’t!” Axl screams at him, making his brother flinch. “Fuck off and leave her and leave us all and don’t come back!”  
“Axl...” Mike’s voice is hesitant and low. “Axl, you saw what just happened.”  
Axl stares at Anders for a long moment, his eyes hardening. “I’ll fucking kill you again you bastard!”

He is about to grab Anders again when Gaia steps between the two, eyes flashing green. “ **No! Stop tempting fate! Stop meddling with destiny!** It is bad enough that Helen was killed; she was meant to be Idun, not I. If you kill him, you will kill me, and then Idun will have to reach for another vessel, someone who was never meant to be Idun either. How many lives will that destroy? Is it really worth it?”  
“But I love you!”  
“And I loved you. Axl. I’m so sorry. But this is something none of us can stand against.”  
“You’re not even trying! You can’t just ignore that you said yes and took my ring and ditch me for Anders! Of all fucking guys it has to be Anders!”

“Stop acting like a petulant child! Why do you not even try to understand? I am not your Frigg! I took your ring because I thought I could fight it! I can’t! There is nothing I can fight! This just is! This is me! I became Idun, and now this is our life, our reality. This is me.” Then she steps beside Anders. “This is us. I’m sorry Axl. I don’t want to hurt you. But this is it.”  
“And now what?” Axl’s voice is dripping venom. “You become his doe, cleaning up after him and sleeping on the sofa when he comes home with a fling?”

Gaia slowly turns around to look at Anders. Anders slowly turns his head and meets her eyes.

“I expect my lord Bragi to treat me with the respect I deserve and honour me as his rightful spouse.”  
“I expect my lady Idun to treat me with the same respect and honour that I afford to her,” Anders replies, his voice vibrant and strangely melodic and not at all the soft whisper of deceit it is when he is influencing people. 

They take each other’s hands. There is nothing left to say.


End file.
